Audio Video News

Following the DTV transition next February, cable systems will be required to carry broadcast channels, under a ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals that upheld requirements of the Federal Communications Commission. Must-carry rules are nothing new. What is noteworthy here is that they will continue after the transition.

Cable operators will have two choices. They must either carry both the digital and analog versions of each over-the-air channel, as they do now. Or they must make their systems all-digital, in which case they'd have to carry only the digital version.

The news, though not unexpected, does not fall sweetly on the ears of cable operators and non-broadcast cable programmers. They say must-carry rules violate their First Amendment rights. And they object to the use of bandwidth for duplicate versions of digital and analog channels, which might squeeze non-broadcast channels out of cable systems.

However, as the court noted, the latter scenario is unlikely for most systems, since most are either all-digital or headed that way. And FCC chair Kevin Martin approved: "Today's action preserves the commission's decision to protect consumers and prevents cable companies from either choosing to cut off signals of must-carry broadcast stations after the digital conversion, or requiring customers to purchase higher-priced packages with set-top boxes to receive the same analog channels in digital."

See coverage in The Wall Street Journal.